Pope welcomes growing roles for women in the Church

Collège Saint Michel et église Saint Jean Berchmans à Etterbeek, Bruxelles. Wiki Image

The subject of women and their role in the Catholic Church, was central to a conversation Pope Francis had with 150 Jesuits from Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, during his recent Apostolic Visit.

The meeting, which took place in the Collège Saint-Michel in Brussels, included a discussion covering a range of issues from secularization to inculturation, from the Synod to migration.

La Civiltà Cattolica has published the full text of the dialogue, in an article signed by Father Antonio Spadaro. ( See link below).

Responding to one Jesuit's question about "the difficulty of giving women a more just and adequate place in the Church," Pope Francis said: "The Church is woman".. "I see women blessed with charisms, and I do not want to limit the discussion of women's role in the Church to the topic of ministry," "In general, masculinism and feminism are 'market' themes."

The Pope stressed that at this point in time, he is trying "more and more to bring women into the Vatican with roles of higher and higher responsibility." "Things are changing," he said. "You can see and feel it."

Pope Francis reminded everyone that the deputy governor of the Governorate is a woman (Sister Raffaella Petrini), that the Dicastery for Integral Human Development "also has a woman as its deputy" (Sister Alessandra Smerilli), and that in the "'team' for the appointment of bishops, there are three women (Sr Rafaella Petrini, Sister Yvonne Reungoat and Dr Maria Lia Zervino, appointed in 2022 as members of the Dicastery for Bishops).

"Since they are in charge of selecting candidates, things are much better… They are acute in their judgments," he said.

Even in the Dicastery for Consecrated Life, the deputy is a woman, (Sister Simona Brambilla, secretary) and in the Council for the Economy the deputy coordinator is a woman, Dr Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhoof.

"Women, in short, are entering the Vatican in roles of high responsibility: we will continue on this path. Things are working better than before," the Pope assured his listeners.

The Pope then recalled an anecdote with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen: "We were talking about a specific problem, and I asked her, 'But how do you handle these kinds of problems?' She replied, 'The same way all of us mothers do.' Her answer gave me much to think about."

Later the subject of the shortage of vocations to the priesthood in Europe was raised. One religious asked Pope Francis: "How do you see the future of parish communities without priests?"

The Pope responded: "The community is more important than the priest...The priest is a servant of the community."

He then cited the example of women religious who take on leadership roles in some parts of the world, such as the Peruvian congregation of nuns who have "their own specific mission" of going "to those situations where there is no priest. They do everything: they preach, they baptize... If a priest is eventually sent, then they go somewhere else," to look after another community.

Read La Civiltà Cattolica's full transcript of the Pope's conversation with Jesuits during his visit to Brussels here: www.laciviltacattolica.com/do-not-be-afraid/